The Victorian Age (1830-1901)

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The Victorian Age (1830-1901)
Sambourne House, London.
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The Victorian Age
1. Queen Victoria

• Victoria became queen at the age of 18 she was
  graceful and self-assured.
• Her reign was the longest in British history.

Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen
Victoria, 1842
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The Victorian Age
1. Queen Victoria

• In 1840 she married a German prince, Albert of
  Saxe-Coburg.
• They had nine children and their modest family
  life provided a model of respectability.
• During this time Britain changed dramatically.

Franz Xavier Winterhalter, The young Queen
Victoria, 1842
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The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th
century, Private Collection.

• England grew to become the greatest nation on
  earth ? The sun never sets on England.

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The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th
century, Private Collection.

• British Empire included Canada, Australia, New
  Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Africa,
  Kenya, and India.

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The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th
century, Private Collection.

• Great Britain imported raw materials such as
  cotton and silk and exported finished goods to
  countries around the world.

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The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th
century, Private Collection.

• By the mid-1800s, Great Britain was the largest
  exporter and importer of goods in the world. It
  was the primary manufacturer of goods and the
  wealthiest country in the world.

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The Victorian Age
2. The growth of the British Empire
British Empire throughout the World, 19th
century, Private Collection.

• Because of Englands success, the British felt it
  was their duty to bring English values, laws,
  customs, and religion to the savage races
  around the world.

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The Victorian Age
3. An age of social and political reforms

• 1832 The First Reform Act granted the vote to
  almost all male members of middle-class.
• 1833 The Factory Act regulated child labour in
  factories.
• 1834 Poor Law Amendment established a system of
  workhouses for poor people.

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The Victorian Age
3. An age of social and political reforms

• 1867 The Second Reform Act gave the vote to
  skilled working men.
• 1871 Trade Union Act legalised trades unions.
• 1884 The Third Reform Act granted the right to
  vote to all male householders.

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The Victorian Age
4. The womans question

• Womens suffrage did not happen until 1918.

The Rights of Women or Take Your Choice (1869)
Suffragettes
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The Victorian Age
5. Positive aspects of the age
Industrial revolution factory system emerged
for the first time in Britains history there
were more people who lived in cities than in the
countryside. Technological advances
introduction of steam hammers and locomotives
building of a network of railways.
Workers in a Tobacco Factory
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The Victorian Age
5. Positive aspects of the age
Economical progress Britain became the greatest
economical power in the world in 1901 the Usa
became the leader, but Britain remained the first
in manufacturing.
Workers in a Tobacco Factory
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The Victorian Age
6. Crystal Palace

• Crystal Palace was built for the Great Exhibition
  of 1851 it was destroyed by fire in 1936.

The Crystal Palace
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The Victorian Age
6. Crystal Palace
It was made of iron and glass, exhibited
hydraulic presses, locomotives, machine tools,
power looms, power reapers and steamboat engines.
The Crystal Palace
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The Victorian Age
6. Crystal Palace
It had a political purpose ? it showed British
economic supremacy in the world.
The Crystal Palace
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The Victorian Age
7. Negative aspects of the age

• Pollution in towns due to factory activity.

London in 1872
Homeless Boys (1880)
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The Victorian Age
7. Negative aspects of the age
Lack of hygienic conditions houses were
overcrowded, most people lived in miserable
conditions poor houses shared water supplies.
London in 1872
Homeless Boys (1880)
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The Victorian Age
8. The Great Stink

• Epidemics, like cholera, thyphoid, caused a high
  mortality in towns. They came to a peak in the
  Great Stink of 1858.
• This expression was used to describe the terrible
  smell in London, coming from the Thames.
• The Miasmas, exhalations from decaying matter,
  poisoned the air.

Caricature appearing on the magazine Punch in
1858
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The Victorian Age
9. The Victorian compromise

• The Victorians were great moralisers ? they
  supported personal duty, hard work, decorum,
  respectability, chastity.

W. H. Hunt, The Awakening Conscience, 1853-4,
London, Tate Britain.
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The Victorian Age
9. The Victorian compromise

• Victorian, synonym for prude, stood for extreme
  repression even furniture legs had to be
  concealed under heavy cloth not to be
  suggestive.
• New ideas were discussed debated by a large
  part of society.

W. H. Hunt, The Awakening Conscience, 1853-4,
London, Tate Britain.
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The Victorian Age
9. The Victorian compromise

• The middle-class was obsessed with gentility,
  respectability, decorum.
• Respectability ? distinguished the middle from
  the lower class.

John Lamb, Victorian family portrait, 1879.
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The Victorian Age
9. The Victorian compromise

• Decorum meant
• Victorian private lives were dominated by an
  authoritarian father.
• Women were subject to male authority they were
  expected to marry and make home a refuge for
  their husbands.

John Lamb, Victorian family portrait, 1879.
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The Victorian Age
10. Key thinkers
John Stuart Mill and his ideas based on Benthams
Utilitarianism.
John Stuart Mill
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The Victorian Age
10. Key thinkers
Karl Marx and his studies about the harm caused
by industrialism in mans life.
Karl Marx
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The Victorian Age
10. Key thinkers
Charles Darwin and the theory of natural
selection.
Charles Darwin
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The Victorian Age
11. The rise of the novel

• There was a communion of interests and opinions
  between the writers and their readers.
• The Victorians were avid consumers of literature.
  They borrowed books from circulating libraries
  and read various periodicals.

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The Victorian Age
11. The rise of the novel

• Novels made their first appearance in instalments
  on the pages of periodicals.
• The voice of the omniscient narrator provided a
  comment on the plot and erected a rigid barrier
  between right and wrong, light and darkness.

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The Victorian Age
11. The rise of the novel

• The setting chosen by most Victorian novelists
  was the town.
• Victorian writers concentrated on the creation of
  characters and achieved a deeper analysis of
  their inner life.

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The Victorian Age
12. Poetry
Alfred, Lord Tennyson the most popular Victorian
poet. He wrote narrative poems.
Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson, by George
Frederic Watts (died 1904), given to the National
Portrait Gallery, London in 1895.
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The Victorian Age
12. Poetry
Robert Browning he raised the dramatic monologue
to new heights making it a vehicle for a deep
psychological study.
Robert Browning
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The Victorian Age
12. Poetry
Elizabeth Barrett Browning she wrote love
sonnets valued for their lyric beauty.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning